Washington (CNN) - House Republican leaders returned to Capitol Hill on Monday after a one week break and immediately blamed Senate Democrats and the White House for a hike on interest rates for an estimated seven million students who plan to take out government-subsidized student loans this year.

"It's time for the president to lead and it's time for him to bring his Senate Democrat leaders together and develop a solution. The House has done its job. It's time for the Senate and the White House to do its job," House Speaker John Boehner said at a news conference on the steps of the Capitol surrounded by other House GOP leaders and college-age students.

Washington (CNN) - A day after an election that both parties agreed was a mandate to find compromise and avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders also continued to sharply disagree over the key issue of whether top tax rates should be raised to help resolve the looming crisis.

Republicans said higher rates would damage the economy, while Democrats said it was the only equitable way to tackle the debt.

Washington (CNN) - After months of difficult talks, bipartisan House and Senate negotiators reached a tentative deal on a giant transportation funding bill Wednesday, multiple sources tell CNN. A formal announcement is expected late Wednesday night after the last details are hammered out and the final language is drafted, they said.

Congressional leaders said they hoped to attach the highway bill to a measure extending a rate cut on some student loans and legislation reauthorizing national flood insurance and pass them as one bill out of the House and Senate by Friday. Doing so would let Congress beat looming deadlines when these measures expire and also would allow lawmakers to escape town for their Fourth of July recess.

(CNN) - The top Senate leaders from each party Tuesday indicated they had reached an agreement to extend a rate cut on student loans but were waiting to hear whether House Republicans would accept the deal.

House GOP leaders are expected to discuss the issue with their members at a meeting Wednesday morning.

Asked if he was encouraged by negotiations among members of the congressional "super committee" that is trying to forge a debt-reduction agreement, the Nevada Democrat curtly told CNN: "With that phony deal the Republicans offered? No."FULL POST

The measure would then have to be voted on in the House- where Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, has insisted any federal funding to deal with the recent spate of natural disasters be offset with cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - A Democratic official involved in the effort to secure the votes in the House and Senate for the debt deal says there is more concern about the vote tally in the House than the Senate, where it looks like it will get the 60 votes needed without much drama.

In the House, Democrats who favor the deal are concerned about a very close vote – maybe a squeaker.FULL POST

(CNN)–The burst of enthusiasm Tuesday for the "Gang of Six" debt reduction plan as a possible way out of the debt ceiling crisis appeared to fade Wednesday as Democratic and Republican lawmakers studied and found fault with the details of the proposal.